ENGLISH SPARROW 13 



The first and subsequent nuptial plumages are acquired by wear, 

 which brings out the contrasts in and the brilliancy of|the colors. 

 A complete postnuptial molt for both yound and old birds begins 

 late in August. Adult males in winter plumage are not very different 

 from the first winter males; the black of the throat is*„ usually,. more 

 extensive, the buff less evident, the crown grayer and the median 

 coverts whiter. After the postjuvenal molt, females resemble the 

 males above, but lack the black throat and the chestnut patches; 

 the molts are the same. 



Stimulated by Wetmore's (1936) feather counting, Arthur E. 

 Staebler (1941) took the trouble to count the contour feathers on 

 eight English sparrows of different ages and sexes and at different 

 seasons, from which he made the expected discovery that the spar- 

 rows wear more feathers in winter than in summer; only such feath- 

 ers as formed parts of the outer covering were counted. He found 

 that an adult male taken in January had 3,615 feathers, while an 

 adult male taken in July had 3,138 feathers. 



Food. — The latest and most comperehensive study of the food of 

 the English sparrow was made by E. R. Kalmbach (1940), based 

 on the examination of 8,004 stomachs of adults and nestlings, 337 

 of which "were found to be too nearly empty or otherwise unfit for 

 use in the computation of bulk percentages." The stomachs of the 

 4,848 adults were found to contain 3.39 percent of animal matter and 

 96.61 percent vegetable. The proportions were largely reversed for 

 the nestlings, 68.13 percent animal and 31.87 percent vegetable 

 matter. Grouped to show whether the consumption of the various 

 items is beneficial, neutral or harmful to the interests of man, his 

 tables give the following figures: Adults' animal food is 2.67 percent 

 beneficial, 0.64 percent neutral, and 0.08 percent harmful. Adults' 

 vegetable food is 16.97 percent beneficial, 24.14 percent neutral, and 

 55.50 percent harmful. Nestlings' animal food is 59.21 percent bene- 

 ficial, 4.48 percent neutral, and 4.44 percent harmful. Nestlings' 

 vegetable food is 0.17 percent beneficial, 7.85 percent neutral, and 

 23.85 percent harmful. By adding the totals it will be seen that the 

 feeding habits of the adults are 55.58 percent harmful while those 

 of the nestlings are 59.38 beneficial; but, unfortunately, the feeding 

 time of nestlings is very limited. 



He gives the sparrow credit for destroying many weevils, particu- 

 larly the very destructive alfalfa weevil, scarabaeid beetles, click 

 beetles, leaf beetles, grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, caterpillars, moths, 

 and some flies; but blames it for eating the useful predaceous ground 

 beetles and spiders. He gives it some credit for destroying some weed 

 seeds, but condemns it for the large amounts of feed grains such as 



